


A Secret Chord

by joidianne4eva



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, M/M, Sirens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-07
Updated: 2015-10-07
Packaged: 2018-04-25 07:44:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4952206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joidianne4eva/pseuds/joidianne4eva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Foggy could vaguely remember a time when he’d dreamed of the things any of their kind should. </p><p>He dreamt of the trucks his dad would make for him, dragging their essence out of thin air only to laugh when Foggy gaped at him, like he always did. But that would only happen if Foggy didn’t steal cookies and get in trouble at school. </p><p>Foggy dreamt of the melodies that wove their way through his very being. The soft, husky timbre of his mother’s voice coaxing his own into something that felt almost right even if it wasn’t as powerful as the tune that his mom carried with her.</p><p>Then one day Foggy’s dreams caught fire and the world burned with it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Secret Chord

**Author's Note:**

> For the Monster Fest over on ushobwri. The prompt - Sirens.

Foggy could vaguely remember a time when he’d dreamed of the things any of their kind should.

He dreamt of the trucks his dad would make for him, dragging their essence out of thin air only to laugh when Foggy gaped at him, like he always did. But that would only happen if Foggy didn’t steal cookies and get in trouble at school.

Foggy dreamt of the melodies that wove their way through his very being. The soft, husky timbre of his mother’s voice coaxing his own into something that felt almost right even if it wasn’t as powerful as the tune that his mom carried with her.

Then one day Foggy’s dreams caught fire and the world burned with it. When he woke screaming he shattered all the windows in his parents’ house but that wasn’t even the worst thing…wasn’t the worst part despite the look of horror on his parents’ faces.

The worst part was the terror clawing at Foggy’s mind as he wept and he couldn’t even articulate it, couldn’t put the mind-numbing fear into words because there were no words so he did the only thing he could…he sang.

He sang until his throat bled and the walls of his room collapsed. He remembered the feeling of his father’s magic and the hum of his mother’s voice trying to calm him but none of it was enough and Foggy sang until he couldn’t, until the world went black and the last thing he remembered thinking was that the darkness was so much better than the flames.

*O*

Foggy’s week hadn’t started well.

He’d woken screaming again and his roommate had decided that the shattering of their bulbs was the straw that had walloped the camel’s back and booked it, leaving Foggy a pamphlet that included several therapist’s numbers.

The dreams were steadily getting worse, the world wasn’t just on fire anymore it was drowning in blood too and Foggy didn’t know how much he’d be able to take before he lost his mind.

He’d even looked at a couple of sources that outlined the removal of vocal chords in damaged sirens and God help him, he was actually considering it because what would happen the next time? It might not just be glass that Foggy brought raining down.

His mind shied away from the memory of the rubble that was all that had been left of his first home because he couldn’t think about that now.

Instead he gathered his papers and headed for the library but not before he found the note under his door that told him that he’d been assigned a new roomie.

For a second Foggy hoped the guy would be deaf then he felt awful for even thinking that and buried his head in his hands.

He had two assignments due, a new roommate to meet and when he lifted his head just in time to see Marci heading his way, he figured his week was about to get a tiny bit worse.

Foggy blinked slowly as Marci settled across from him, his gaze flickering from the predatory smile on her face to her lackeys who were watching the whole thing like they expected an explosion.

To be honest sleeping with Marci hadn’t exactly been one of Foggy’s best ideas but he’d been lonely and Marci had promised just sex with no strings attached. It was the no strings attached part that had drawn him in more than the sex…not that the sex hadn’t been good because it had but Foggy was used to people expecting more than he could give and there wasn’t much that he could give, not with flames licking at the edges of his mind.

The fact that Marci was a banshee had also helped things along because as far as Foggy was concerned banshees totally came under the siren blanket. They were like spontaneous sirens, hell their voices affected people almost as much as his could.

“So tell me why I had to find out that you were a siren from Pamela in registration?” Marci demanded and Foggy cocked a brow because it wasn’t exactly something that he tried to hide.

Even now his accent was warped by the melody always hidden within his breath. People usually picked up on it pretty damn quickly, if they listened.

“Didn’t know that I needed to declare it,” Foggy muttered, glancing back at his papers.

“But you never sing,” Marci pointed out and it took every bit of Foggy’s control to keep his body still instead of flinching.

“We’re not a late night act, Marci. Not all of us go around flaunting our manifestation,” Foggy shot back.

“Yeah, no,” Marci snapped, “Those of us who can’t control our manifestations don’t show them off, the rest of you can show off as much as you want and honestly you’re the only one not doing it,” she pointed out but Foggy just shrugged.

“I’m not the singing type,” he responded lightly.

The sound that Marci made would have made a cat proud. “You are literally the definition of the singing type,” she replied, leaning closer so that she could trail her fingers across his wrist and usually that would be enough to catch Foggy’s attention but Marci’s questions had already put him on edge and he wasn’t falling for it. “Come on, Foggy-bear; just sing me a little thing? I’ve never been sung to by a siren, I heard it’s heavenly,” she whispered.

Foggy just snorted as he pulled back, meeting her eyes. “No.”

“Just one song,” Marci coaxed and Foggy gritted his teeth. He loved Marci’s tenacity and hated it in equal measure.

“Marci, I said no. No means no, it doesn’t mean convince me,” he snapped and the way that Marci flushed told him that he was starting to get across to her because no one wanted their manifestation to be used by someone else. That sort of violation could lead to consequences that people wouldn’t be able to come back from. “Now I’m going to go and pretend we never had this conversation because I’ve got a new roommate I’m supposed to meet today and you’ve got some adoring fans that you need to let down easy,” Foggy told her as he stood. “And word to the wise, Marci, sometimes being able to do something doesn’t mean you should.”

*O*

“Franklin, you know you can’t hide this from your mother,” his dad sighed and Foggy grimaced as he tried to juggle his phone and his folders.

“I know that, I just…she seemed so happy when I told her the dreams had stopped even if I didn’t…” Foggy trailed off unable and unwilling to make himself say it because it was one thing when other people brought it up but he couldn’t. “She didn’t even care about all the rest she was just glad they were gone. I couldn’t tell her that I was lyi…holy shit,” Foggy squawked as he fell through the open door only to almost run into the stranger standing in the middle of his room.

The man turned and smiled and Foggy’s world tilted sideways on its axis so much that he barely heard his dad’s muttering.

“Dad, I’m gonna have to call you back, I think my new roommate’s here?” Foggy tried and when the guy nodded Foggy beamed because he’d finally gotten a hot one, not that Foggy was shallow enough to really be concerned about looks but seriously, hottie at ten o’clock.

Tossing his phone onto his bed, Foggy held out a hand, “Hi I’m Foggy and I’m really sorry about the mess and shit…you can’t see, can you?” Foggy choked out as his brain added the walking stick and the dark glasses and came up with ‘he’s blind you fucking idiot’.

The guy just laughed, “Yeah, I thought it was sort of obvious,” and oh God, forget the guy’s looks, Foggy’s was going to marry his voice…for purely aesthetic reasons and totally not because it had shivers clawing their way up Foggy’s spine.

“I…no, I sort of got distracted by your face...not that there’s anything wrong with your face because there isn’t, it’s a really nice face and okay I’m just going to stop digging my hole already,” Foggy muttered as he swiped his hand across his face but his new roommate just laughed, a full rich sound that made Foggy’s throat ache with the need to copy it or add to it.

“No, no, that’s fine, most people treat me like an invalid and I hate it,” the guy offered up, holding out his hand. “I’m Matt, Matt Murdock,” he greeted and Foggy smiled even though Matt couldn’t see him or maybe because Matt couldn’t see him, taking Matt’s hand Foggy faintly noticed the callouses marking Matt’s grip but mostly he was focused on the heat beneath his fingers.

“So Foggy was that because…?” Matt trailed off with a gesture at his own throat and Foggy squinted at him before remembering that Matt couldn’t see his expression.

“I’m totally giving you a confused look right now, buddy, because I don’t have a clue what that’s supposed to mean.”

Matt’s brows hiked but the smile on his face didn’t shift. “I can hear the song behind your voice. It’s faint but there. I thought that meant you were a siren so I figured the Foggy thing was a pun…like a foghorn sort of thing,” he explained and Foggy gaped at him.

“I…yeah. I mean yeah you’re right about both of those but most people don’t notice that the first time I meet them,” Foggy noted softly but Matt just shrugged.

“I’ve got sensitive ears,” he grinned. “And I like your voice,” that bit was a whispered additive and Foggy was glad that Matt couldn’t see the blush overtaking his face because complimenting a siren’s voice was almost like a kink to most of them…and to do so without prompting well it was a good thing that Matt couldn’t see him because he was probably lit up more than the fourth of July.

“Law!” Foggy all but yelped before reining in his voice when Matt flinched. “I meant I’m studying law and I really didn’t mean to shout that,” he tacked on quickly but Matt just nodded like Foggy’s behaviour was completely normal and not weird as hell.

“I’m studying law too,” Matt offered up, his fingers tightening on his cane. “I don’t mean to be a nuisance or anything but could you point me to which bed is mine? I’ve sort of spent the day on my feet,” he grinned ruefully and Foggy was pretty sure that he was flushing to his roots.

Lurching forward he paused just outside of Matt’s personal bubble. “Can I lead you? I mean, I know you can find it but it’s easier if I just…there’s sort of debris all over the floor and I could…” he trailed off when Matt nodded, taking Matt’s elbow and leading him through the minefield that was his stuff.

Stepping back as soon as he got Matt settled, Foggy started cleaning up his crap because the last thing he needed was for Matt to trip over something.

“So how come you’re switching rooms this late? Or are you new here?” Foggy asked as he chucked his shoes under his bed. Not the cleanest option but at least they were out of the way.

“I’m new, I transferred in from Columbia.”

Foggy’s head snapped up at that, “Dude, no. I was going to go to Columbia too but we figured that it’d be better if I…” he glanced away, gritting his teeth as his fingers came up to play at his throat. “It’s easier for me to be here,” he finished, pasting on a fake smile even though Matt couldn’t see it.

“We could’ve been roommates,” Matt noted, his tone low and soothing and Foggy was so fucking grateful that Matt hadn’t started questioning him like so many of his classmates would’ve if he’d given them the opening that he’d just given Matt.

“So why the late start?” Foggy inquired lightly as he glanced at his papers. “Also do you think it’d be appropriate to pretend that I didn’t see this assignment and therefore had no clue that it’s due?”

“How much is it worth?” Matt asked and when Foggy glanced at him Matt was leaning forward, his head cocked towards Foggy and the dark of his glasses glinting red in the low light of their room.

“A lot more than I can afford to lose but there’s no way that I’m going to get this done in time,” Foggy admitted with a sigh.

“I could help?” Matt offered with a tiny nod. “I’ve handed in all my assignments so they’re going to transfer the grades here.”

“Oh my God, you’re one of those people aren’t you?” Foggy hissed and Matt’s lips twitched.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he responded but Foggy was having none of that.

“I bet you do assignments on the day you get them and you probably actually study for the quizzes!”

Narrowing his eyes Foggy stared at Matt. “Have you ever asked for an extension?” he demanded.

Matt snorted, his fingers curling and uncurling around his cane. “I can’t say I have.”

“Matt, no, no, no, no. How am I supposed to be a slacker now? You’re going to shame me. You’re bringing the shame of the overachieving on our tiny room.”

“So you want my help?” Matt guessed and Foggy crumbled like a poorly built house of cards.

“Yes, please,” he responded ignoring the twist low in his gut at the sharp smile that Matt flashed his way at the words.

It wasn’t until they were immersed in his work that Foggy realized that Matt had never answered the question about why he’d transferred in late.

*O*

“Oh my god, I can’t believe you did that,” Foggy howled, wiping at the tears on his face as Matt beamed at him like he hadn’t spent the last ten minutes of their class lecturing their lecturer about the struggles of being blind and brilliant until the man was such a stuttering mess that he completely forgot about the assignment he’d set out for them.

“He was being a dick,” Matt commented lightly and Foggy sighed.

“You know you don’t always have to try and stick up for me, right? I’ve had worse,” he responded because though he enjoyed Matt’s methods the fact was Foggy didn’t need protection. He’d grown a thick skin over the years and insults like the one that the lecturer had tried to use flowed off of him like oil over water.

“He had no right to bring up your manifestation just as a way to tear you down. I’m pretty sure that’s harassment,” Matt muttered and his lips were twisting into that moue of bitterness that Foggy had come to learn meant that he was going to make someone’s life a living hell.

“I’ve had worse, Matty, you know that,” Foggy offered up and Matt’s breath hissed from him like a leaky balloon. “Look, I know that he only used the example of stoner sirens because he wanted to get a reaction out of me but he didn’t and you schooled him in front of everyone so thanks for defending my honour.”

Matt shrugged, “I wouldn’t have liked it if he’d used any example but I know you’re not proud of your…” Matt started but Foggy choked…on thin air apparently.

“Matt, no. I’m not ashamed of being a siren. I mean my mom’s a siren and she’s kickass and we’ve got a few relatives scattered around somewhere too…also my grandma, who you should totally be terrified of.”

“But you _are_ ashamed of something to do with it,” Matt noted and Foggy hummed instead of responding.

He hadn’t given it much though lately because he hadn’t had a single dream since Matt had moved in. Foggy had done some research on the topic and apparently there were a lot of manifestations that affected dreams but he’d seen the way that Matt tensed up whenever someone mention his manifestation and Foggy wasn’t going to be that person, the kind who just steamrolled over other people’s feelings to get what he wanted.

He left that to Marci.

“I’ve got issues but they’re non-fixable so I’m fine with ignoring them until they stop existing or I die…whichever comes...” Foggy squinted at Matt when the other man grimaced. “Okay, what’s that face for?” he demanded.

“I don’t like you talking about dying like that,” Matt responded firmly like that was the sort of thing you said to a guy who had a massive crush on you without getting his hopes up.

Sometimes Foggy really hated Matt but there was no way that he could get around the kicked puppy look on the man’s face.

“Okay, fine, just put the lip away. Your face is a weapon of mass destruction and you’re not wielding it with care,” Foggy groused while Matt beamed at him. “But seriously, Matt, you can’t protect me from the world, you know that, right? I actually existed pretty damn well before I met you, you know?”

“You were living on noodles and coca cola,” Matt noted and Foggy flushed bright red.

“I ate other things!” he protested.

Matt just leaned forward and Foggy’s nose twitched as the hint of something almost fiery filled his senses, there and gone like a wisp of smoke on the wind.

“Name one thing that your mom didn’t make and bring to you personally.”

Foggy opened his mouth then shut it as Matt smirked and seriously Foggy shouldn’t find that hot when Matt was basically implying that he wasn’t capable of surviving on his own.

“Celery!” he offered up.

Matt’s smirk took on a devilish tilt and Foggy knew that he’d just fucked up.

“You did have celery but that was last week and I personally handed it to you. You took one bite and said it was rabbit food.”

“That’s because it _is_ rabbit food,” Foggy groused but Matt just grinned at him like he was some adorable creature instead of a rugged lawyer-to-be with glorious hair.

If the smile had Foggy’s gut twisting just a little well it was his own business and after the mess that his life had been before Matt he deserved some peace and happiness.

*O*

The thing was Foggy should have known that it couldn’t last.

Matt had been at the college for six months and every night for six months they’d fallen asleep together…well not together no matter how much Foggy wished it but they had fallen asleep in the same room at the same time. Also, Foggy wasn’t stupid, the one time he’d tried sleeping while Matt was out the flames had been right there and Foggy had woken out of his half-dream strangling the song that his body wanted to let free.

So the evidence clearly said that Matt had to be asleep to do whatever he was doing and it should have been easy to keep their little routine going… _if_ Foggy had confessed to Matt what was going on. But Foggy hadn’t confessed a damn thing to Matt which was probably why he woke up in the middle of the night to the shattering of glass and that fucking song riding his breath as the walls pulsed around him, rocking and heaving like they were at sea.

Foggy barely noticed any of it beyond the feeling of his stomach churning as he curled in on himself, snapping his teeth shut around the tail end of the melody that he wasn’t even fucking supposed to know because his mother had never taught it to him…no one had. It didn’t change the fact that it felt like it was seared into his bones and it didn’t shake the sick sense of satisfaction that came every time he let it loose.

Foggy breathed slowly, the cadence of the air ghosting from his lungs shaking in the sudden silence but then even that was shattered as the door banged open.

Foggy didn’t open his eyes to see who it was.

“Foggy?” Matt’s voice was soft but there wasn’t the slightest hint of worry in his tone and it was the only thing that kept Foggy from bolting.

“Hey,” Matt whispered as Foggy’s bed dipped and there was suddenly a cool hand on his face and the scent of brimstone that sometimes clung to Matt washed over Foggy.

Later he couldn’t say if had been Matt’s voice or the touch that made him cry or maybe it was just the entire fucked up situation and maybe it had nothing to do with Matt at all.

“You’re okay, Foggy, I’m going to stay right here until you feel like talking about it, alright?” Matt told him and Foggy all but crawled into Matt’s lap and just clung because Matt was his touchstone, his freaking anchor and he felt so adrift.

Matt didn’t react to the sudden invasion of his personal space other than to stroke his fingers through Foggy’s hair.

“I have these dreams,” Foggy whispered against Matt’s shirt. “I’ve had them since I was a kid that’s why I don’t sing, I can’t…every time I try that…” he waved at the destruction of their room before shaking his head because Matt couldn’t see, stupid. “… fucked up stuff happens,” he amended.

“What are the dreams about?” Matt asked and Foggy’s fingers tightened where they were gripping Matt’s shirt.

“The world… _burning_ ,” Foggy muttered.

Matt didn’t say anything but he didn’t pull away either so Foggy figured in for a penny in for a pound as the Brits would say.

“When my mom made me see the therapists I told them what they wanted to hear. I told them that it scares me but it doesn’t, Matty. I like it, the part of me that isn’t terrified actually likes it,” Foggy admitted. “Does that make me a monster?”

“Nothing could make you a monster, Foggy. You’re the sweetest, kindest person I know,” Matt responded instantly and some of the tension that Foggy hadn’t even realized he’d been holding bled from his muscles. “Do you have the dreams often?” Matt asked.

Foggy nodded, “It could be worse, you know? It’s not like it’s every night.”

“But there’s a pattern to it?” Matt inquired, his hand stroking down Foggy’s spine. Foggy slumped against him, shamelessly leeching Matt’s body heat.

“I don’t think so,” Foggy whispered.

“Okay,” Matt noted, “But you always…?” he trailed off.

“Am I always the bringer of destruction? Yeah, pretty much and let me tell you that doesn’t sit well with the other sirens no matter what the counsellor says. Also I think they’re sort of freaked out because it takes years of training to do this and nobody’s been training me to bring the roof down… _literally._ Plus there’s the whole ‘might kill people’ thing. Sirens aren’t big on accidental murder.”

“You haven’t killed anyone,” Matt pointed out but Foggy just sighed as he pulled away.

“Yet, Matt, the word you’re looking for is yet. My last roommate was severely allergic to falling glass that may or may not slit his throat in his sleep. I mean I wouldn’t be surprised or offended if you wanted to switch rooms as long as we can stay friends.”

“Thankfully I’m uniquely suited to surviving things like that and I’ll always be your friend, Foggy,” Matt whispered.

Foggy glanced up at Matt’s face and froze.

“Matt, what the hell happened to your face?”

Matt grimaced, “I walked into a wall?”

“And what it decided to punch you in the face? I might be emotional but I’m not stupid. What happened to your face…and your hands, Matt, Jesus Christ,” Foggy frowned slipping on his shoes to brave the glass littering their floor. Thankfully Foggy’s mom had insisted that he have a first aid kit.

Pulling Matt’ hand onto his lap, Foggy grimaced at the state of his friend’s knuckles.

Matt didn’t even flinch as Foggy started cleaning the raw mess that was currently his hands and that set warning bells ringing in Foggy’s head.

“Okay, tell me about this wall. Is it going to press charges? Or should I be looking out for rouge walls that think it’s appropriate to attack blind people?” Foggy hissed as he wrapped Matt’s hands.

Matt’s lips twitched, “You don’t have to worry about rouge walls,” he responded lightly and Foggy gritted his teeth for a moment.

“Matt, you need to report whoever did this to you,” he prodded but Matt just shook his head.

“I can’t…”

“Can’t or won’t? Because this…and I’m gesturing at your face,” Foggy snapped as he did exactly that. “This isn’t something you can just let slide.”

“Would you feel better if I said the other guy looks worse than I do?” Matt queried.

“I’d care more if you could actually see enough to…” Foggy snarled before hissing as he pulled away from Matt. “Shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that…I can’t, Matt, you can’t just... Look you need to report this guy and you need to get a new roommate because you can’t stay here. It’s not safe,” Foggy whispered, swallowing past the lump in his throat.

“There’s nowhere I’d be safer.”

Matt’s voice was so soft that Foggy almost didn’t hear it but he couldn’t miss the fingers curling around his wrist.

“I can’t tell you what happened…not yet but I will. Just give me a few days, okay? But I need you to listen to me right now. There’s nothing that you can do that will hurt me. Just trust me on that,” Matt pleaded.

Foggy bit his lip, staring down at Matt’s hand on his.

“It’s your manifestation isn’t it?” he asked, finally glancing up and the blank look on Matt’s face had something cold settling in the pit of his stomach but Matt nodded.

“Okay,” Foggy responded because Matt wasn’t going to leave and that was enough to slow the pounding in Foggy’s chest. “Do you think the other guy really looks worse?” Foggy whispered and the sharp smile that flickered over Matt’s face was terrifying but it also had that itch starting at the back of Foggy’s throat.

“I don’t doubt it,” Matt responded.

Foggy wasn’t sure why the words soothed him but they did and he didn’t look too close at that but there was something that he had to get off his chest because he’d done enough hiding already and look how that had turned out.

“I don’t have the dreams when you’re here…when you’re sleeping too,” he babbled. “I mean I don’t have any actual proof other than the fact that I sleep like a baby when you’re here and what I’m trying to say is could you…” Foggy’s throat closed around the rest of his words when Matt stretched out on his bed, fingers tugging at Foggy’s clothes until he followed suit and God there was a part of Foggy that really wanted to clear the whole thing up but he knew Matt, knew how fast the other man’s brain worked. There was no way that Matt had misunderstood him.

“Foggy, sleep,” Matt ordered. “We’ll clean things up in the morning. Just go to sleep.”

Foggy’s throat clicked as he swallowed but he didn’t pull away, instead he buried his face in Matt’s shirt and just breathed.

The scent of burning followed him down into the darkness but Foggy dreamed of nothing at all.

*O*

“You don’t always break things when you sing.”

Foggy grimaced then forced his eyes open. He wasn’t sure how Matt had known he was awake but he put that down as another part of the Matt Murdock mystery package.

“It’s sweet that you’re trying to be reassuring but I sort of do,” Foggy refuted without moving from his spot despite the fact that he really needed to go report the damages to the siren rep. He wasn’t exactly looking forward to the guy’s usual spiel about self-control. He’d heard it so many times he could quote it word for word.

The thought made his mind flicker to Matt and the fact that he’d never seen the other man go to any of the reps on campus, which either meant that Matt didn’t have a rep or that his rep was just as secretive as he was.

“You do,” Matt insisted. “You were humming at the time but I figured that it’d be the same.”

Foggy pulled away from his cave of pillows and sheets just enough to see Matt’s face and he took a moment to just stare at his friend because Matt was so rarely without his glasses that Foggy had sort of forgotten how beautiful his eyes were.

“Foggy?” Matt prompted, prodding him with a sharp finger and Foggy flinched away from it, batting at Matt’s hands when it looked like he was going for a repeat attack.

“Jesus Christ, what are you made of, glass shards?” Foggy demanded, glowering when Matt just grinned at him. “Okay, yes, humming should have the same effect but I’m pretty sure you were hearing things, Matt. I did all the tests; the only thing I can get away with is the accent thing I’ve got going on. Everything else brings destruction with a side helping of possible death.”

“It was last week; remember you were helping me with that Frobright vs Lawler case because I couldn’t find it anywhere?”

“And you paid me in chocolates,” Foggy laughed. He remembered that, most of all he remembered how still Matt had been when they couldn’t find a braille version. It wasn’t that Matt was angry it was the fact that he’d just been resigned like he hadn’t expected better.

Foggy hadn’t even given him the chance to ask, he’d grabbed the other copy of the case and started reading it aloud until Matt caught on and the soft smile that had gained him stayed with Foggy long after the memory of the chocolates.

Matt hummed in agreement. “You were humming ‘Hey, Jude,’. You did it every time you stopped reading and I don’t remember anything breaking.”

Foggy bit his lip. A part of him wanted to believe Matt but there was another part of him that wasn’t willing to get his hopes up.

“Remember I told you I have really good ears?” Matt asked and something in his tone caught Foggy’s attention.

“How good?” he whispered, not for curiosity but because if Matt was right then it looked like he could get away with more than just sleeping when Matt was around.

Also Foggy was sort of curious…sue him.

Matt was silent and still for a long moment and Foggy opened his mouth to take the question back but Matt was talking again before he could.

“I can hear your heartbeat,” he whispered and Foggy frowned.

“We’re sort of pressed together here, buddy…and I think you mean feel because this little bastard is acting like he’s auditioning as an extra for Alien.”

Matt shook his head, his eyes closing, “I can _hear_ your heartbeat. I can hear it just as clearly now as I can if I’m halfway across campus.”

Foggy took a second to assimilate that information, “A shifter?” he guessed but Matt’s lips twitched like he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to smile or frown.

“Not exactly,” he offered up and Foggy could hear the reluctance in his tone.

“Okay, so you’ve got bat ears and you heard me humming. It doesn’t really change anything, Matt. After finals I’ve got to go prove to the council that I’m not a liability and I can’t exactly do that if all I’ve got to go on is the fact that I can apparently sort of function when you’re around,” Foggy sighed. “It’s not like I can drag you down there with me.”

“Why not?” Matt asked, like it was the most obvious thing in the world and Foggy didn’t know if he wanted to strangle Matt or kiss him…probably kiss him then strangle him because opportunities like those lips didn’t come around very often.

“I’m not hauling you along with me…”

“It’s not like I didn’t offer…”

“Because that’s not how this works…”

“Plus, I really want to meet your mom…”

“I swear to…”

“Language!” Matt hissed, a grin tugging at his lips and Foggy groaned as he buried his face in his pillow.

“Matt, you can’t be my crutch,” Foggy muttered not even bothering to remove his face from the fabric.

“I wouldn’t call it being your crutch,” Matt noted and Foggy turned his head just enough to squint at him with a single eye.

“What would you call it then?” he demanded because there was no way he was going to let Matt’s need to help everyone tie him down into something he didn’t want.

Matt pursed his lips, “I’m not sure what I’d call it yet…but I’d like a chance to find out?”

It was almost a question and the light flush on Matt’s cheeks had Foggy’s stomach tingling even as he slammed his eye shut.

“You’re awful, you know that?” he choked out but Matt just chuckled as he shifted around, making the bed dip and heave until Matt was close enough to curl around Foggy’s body like he was trying to hide him from the world and Foggy appreciated the gesture…probably a little bit too much.

“I prefer to call it spontaneous,” Matt murmured.

Foggy just scoffed. Spontaneous his ass, Matt was just as emotionally stunted as he was. Foggy couldn’t believe that he’d actually thought Matt was a bit of a Casanova before.

*O*

“Your mom’s going to hate me,” Matt groused and Foggy rolled his eyes for the tenth time in twenty minutes.

“My mother already loves you because you cook for me and no woman has ever hated you in your life, Murdock admit it…it’s the face, you look too innocent to be real,” Foggy responded absentmindedly, glancing at Matt from the corner of his eyes just in time to see the smirk that stretched across Matt’s face.

“Okay, not now…now you look like the devil’s own darling. Wipe that smirk off your face, Matthew, she still might not like you,” Foggy grumbled but Matt just beamed.

“You said she loves me,” he pointed out.

“Well, I’ve been wrong before,” Foggy shot back, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel as he waited for the lights to change.

They still hadn’t discussed what they were but they were something, Foggy got that from the way that Matt’s fingers brushed across his skin almost constantly. He got it from the way that Matt made sure to wake him when he went out at night even if he didn’t tell Foggy where he was going. He got it from the way that Matt curled around him when he slept, twisting around Foggy’s body like he was using his own as a shield to keep out Foggy’s dreams.

They were definitely something but Foggy wasn’t sure if Matt was holding off on giving it a name because of his own secrets or because of Foggy’s issues.

“I can hear you thinking,” Matt murmured and honestly Foggy was so in love with Matt’s voice that it took him a moment to focus on the fact that Matt was talking to him, as in waiting for an answer…an answer that Foggy still hadn’t given.

“You can’t hear me thinking,” he shot back and lame, Nelson, that was so lame.

“I really can,” Matt shot back. “When you’re worrying about something you usually tap your feet and if you can’t do that you slow your breathing until I can barely hear it. It freaks me out,” Matt admitted and Foggy snickered, pushing aside Matt’s observations because he hadn’t even noticed that he did that.

“You should be worried seeing as most of the time that I’m thinking, I’m thinking about you…”

That got him a blinding smile and Foggy winced as he turned his words over in his head.

“Not like that, I’m not always thinking about you and you can stop smiling like that, okay? There’s no reason for your ego to grow even bigger than it is.”

“I don’t have a big ego,” Matt pouted, honest to God pouted.

“Really, what do you call the fact that your only response to that TA complimenting your debating skills was to say ‘I know’? She said you were a master at it and you said ‘I know’. Who does that?” Foggy laughed as he remembered the put upon look that the woman had shot Matt’s way as he walked off.

Matt shrugged, “She was flirting and I didn’t want to get into it.”

“She was complimenting you,” Foggy frowned because there had been no twisting of hair or leaning into Matt’s persona space like most of their classmates usually tried.

Male _and_ female.

“I could smell it, she was flirting,” Matt responded and Foggy’s eyes widened as he shot Matt a quick look.

“You can smell that?” he yelped and Matt shrugged.

“Pheromones are easy to pick up on but mostly I ignore them…unless they’re yours,” Matt added in a whisper, his lips twitching into a tiny soft smile. “Yours always smells the best.”

“Oh God,” Foggy whimpered because talk of pheromones should not be hot but apparently it was, it really, really was. “You’re a hazard, did you know that? You’re an actual, honest to God, hazard to my sanity.”

“But you still like me,” Matt teased and Foggy rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, I still like you…but that doesn’t mean my mom will.”

Matt’s glower at that just made Foggy’s grin widen as he pulled to the side to give the driver, who was tailgating him, space to pass him by.

*O*

Foggy’s mom took one look at Matt and hauled Foggy off to the side as Matt greeted his dad.

“You didn’t tell me he was pretty,” she hissed and Foggy choked at the same time that Matt flushed. Glowering at his friend…maybe partner? Because Matt seemed to be able to feel Foggy’s dirty looks, Foggy shrugged.

“He’s not that hot,” he muttered just to watch the way that Matt’s lips twisted into a smile because there was no way that Matt couldn’t hear the lie in his voice.

His mom stared at him and Foggy’s resolve crumbled. “Okay, he’s hot but don’t tell him that to his face. I like his ego just where it is. Don’t want him getting ideas.”

“Foggy has this stupid idea that I’ll think I’m too good for him which will never happen but I think it’s best to humour him,” Matt cut in and Foggy most definitely didn’t flinch.

“Oh,” Foggy’s mom whispered, glancing between them, “When did you two…I thought you were just friends?”

Foggy shrugged again, his shoulders coming up to his ears as he ducked his head, “I liked him the second he told me I had a nice voice,” he muttered and Matt’s sharp inhale was loud enough for even him.

“That’s good,” Matt whispered, his voice shaky. “…because I knew I liked you the second that I heard your voice.”

Foggy did the only thing he could after that, he groped for Matt’s hand and curled their fingers together.

“Oh, Franky,” his mom murmured and Foggy couldn’t help but grin at the soft, proud smile on her face. Matt still didn’t know the significance of highlighting Foggy’s voice but his mom did, he could see it in the tears glistening in her eyes.

“How about we head inside before the neighbours start getting nosy?” Foggy’s dad cut in and Foggy nodded before leading Matt inside.

*O*

“I like how your room smells,” Matt informed him as soon as Foggy dropped their bags on the bed…the single bed, there was no sight of the sleeping bag that Foggy knew they owned…his mom thought she was so slick.

“You’ll have to compliment my mom for that one,” Foggy muttered as he dug through his stuff to make space for Matt’s clothes.

“It smells like you,” Matt commented and Foggy pulled his head out of the closet just long enough to shoot Matt a questioning look.

“You do realize that I haven’t been here in months, right?”

Matt shrugged, one hand absentmindedly picking at the sheets. “It still smells like you,” he responded and there was something so fragile in his tone that Foggy abandoned his unpacking to sit beside him on the bed.

“Is this why you keep sharing your clothes with me then taking them back, because they’ll smell like me?”

Matt ducked his head but not before Foggy caught sight of the grin stretching his lips.

“Oh my god, that’s exactly why you keep doing that, isn’t it? I can’t believe I bought that excuse about you not knowing what you were wearing.”

“I like when you smell like me too,” Matt responded softly and Foggy couldn’t help but press himself closer to Matt’s shoulder.

“If I could sing without being scared, I’d want to sing for you,” he whispered and the way that Matt tensed said that he knew exactly what that meant.

Sirens didn’t offer songs to anyone, they’d sing when distracted or if the need hit but to personally offer a song to a person…saying ‘I love you,’ would have been less personal.

“I’d like that,” Matt responded as he curled an arm around Foggy and pulled him closer.

Foggy didn’t say anything but he was sure that Matt could hear his heart pounding in his chest.

“I hurt people.”

Matt’s voice was barely a whisper and Foggy wasn’t stupid, he knew that if he moved Matt would clam up so he kept himself still and silent.

“I can hear more than just your heartbeat, I can hear everything and sometimes I hear the bad things, people getting hurt…people dying,” Matt murmured against Foggy’s hair. “My dad, he never wanted me to fight but my grandmother, she used to say ‘be careful of the Murdock boys, they got the devil in them’ and I guess she was right because no matter how hard I try I can’t…I can’t just listen to it happening and not do something.”

Foggy swallowed in the silence that followed Matt’s words.

“That night when you came back with the bruised knuckles?” he asked and Matt made a soft sound.

“Hazing thing but they’d found out that he was gay and they weren’t going to stop not even when he begged them to so I made them stop,” Matt responded and Foggy could almost taste Matt’s fury, rising up like the scent of sulphur on his skin.

“They?” he demanded and Matt hummed into his hair.

“Four of them…they won’t be trying it again.”

“Where are they?” Foggy asked and Matt exhaled slowly, sending warm air coiling down Foggy’s spine.

“Do you really want to know?” Matt inquired and Foggy found that he really, really didn’t but he had to ask.

“Yes,” he replied.

“In the hospital, I only broke a few bones, this time…they were human, but they’ve been kicked out of college and I made sure that they understood what would happen if I found out that they tried it again.”

Foggy nodded as best he could in his position, trying hard to pretend that he hadn’t expected worse.

“Is it because of your manifestation?” he queried and Matt shrugged.

“Probably, I’m not sure; I try to not use it much. I don’t like…I don’t want to be the person it makes me into.”

Foggy shifted around, batting at Matt’s hand when it tightened like he thought Foggy was moving away, instead he urged Matt further up on the bed so that could clamber onto his lap and just like every other time they’d done this, Matt’s muscles lost some of the tension Foggy hadn’t even realized he was holding.

“Okay, I’m going to say this…not once because you take that Catholic guilt thing seriously so I might end up saying this several times a day but listen to me. There is nothing in this world that can make you a bad person…”

“You don’t know that,” Matt cut in and Foggy poked him in the side for interrupting.

“You think I offer to sing for just anyone?” Foggy demanded and Matt shook his head, a tiny smile pulling at his lips. “Exactly, I know you think it’s bad but honestly how much worse could it be than what I’ve got going?”

Matt exhaled and this time Foggy thought he could actually see steam curling out of the Matt’s nostrils.

“Alright, I’ll give you that that’s sort of cool but still not terrifying,” he murmured and Matt snorted.

“My grandmother was right Foggy…she was more right than she knew,” Matt whispered and Foggy shifted so that he could kneel up and wrap his arms around Matt because there was actual fear in the man’s voice and it made Foggy’s vocal chords twitch with the urge to croon.

“Yeah well don’t forget that the devil was an angel too,” Foggy responded as he wrapped his arms around Matt.

“Until he fell,” Matt muttered but Foggy just hugged him tighter.

“I’m not going to let you fall, Matty,” he promised and he meant it. He meant every single word.

“I still don’t want to show it to you,” Matt admitted and there was something in his voice, something that reminded Foggy of the first time he’d been asked to sing after the incident. Foggy was familiar with the fear of his own abilities and he wasn’t going to be a hypocrite and call Matt out on his issues.

“Then don’t, I don’t need you to show me your manifestation to want to stick around, you’re sort of stuck with me, buddy. You’ll have to get siren repellent to get rid of me…” Foggy babbled, just to see the lines on Matt’s face soften. “…and let me tell you that stuff’s expensive and you’re sort of a cheapskate…”

“I’m not…” Matt cut in with a tiny smile.

“…you just like a deal,” Foggy finished for him, pulling back so that he could grin at Matt and the way that Matt’s fingers tightened on his hips had a shiver racing up Foggy’s spine.

“No matter how bad you think it is, you know I won’t leave, alright?” Foggy inquired and Matt ducked his head before nodding. Foggy was pretty sure that Matt was just placating him but he was fine with that, he’d have time to convince Matt later, right now they needed to make themselves presentable because if he knew his mom, and he did, she’d probably already called up half of their family to tell them about Matt.

Matt must have felt him tense because he frowned and no, no, no…Foggy hadn’t spent all that time calming him down for him to work himself up again, “What?” Matt muttered and for a moment Foggy thought he’d said all of that out loud. “What’s wrong?” Matt prodded again when Foggy didn’t respond immediately.

“I’m just wondering how you feel about being the main attraction at dinner,” Foggy responded.

Matt, the contrary bastard, just beamed like he hadn’t spent the last ten minutes freaking out. “It’s fine, I want to meet your family…”

“You really don’t,” Foggy cut in, mentally trying to organize the table setting so that Matt was nowhere near the more _volatile_ members of his family.

“I really do,” Matt cut in, burying his face in Foggy’s chest. “I want to meet the people you grew up with, put names to faces…in a manner of speaking.”

“You think you’re so funny but you’re actually really not,” Foggy muttered as he petted Matt’s hair, more to calm himself down than anything else.

“I’m going to meet your family,” Matt murmured and the happiness in his voice reminded Foggy that Matt didn’t really have a family of his own.

“You’re going to meet my family and they’re going to love you or there’s going to be fisticuffs,” Foggy responded and the happy sound that Matt made was motivation enough to get Foggy moving.

“Okay, come on, we’d better…well, I’d better finish unpacking or my mom will blow a gasket and you need to stop smiling like that or Gran’s going to think you’ve got pixie blood and she hates pixies.”

“Definitely not a pixie,” Matt laughed and for a moment Foggy could almost feel the ghost of that too hot breath on his skin but he moved off of Matt’s lap before he ended up deciding that dinner wasn’t as important as cuddling with Matt again.

*O*

Midway through dinner, Foggy was already wishing that he’d stayed in his room. He loved his family, he really did but there were moments when they made him want to scream and considering the damage that a screaming siren could do that wasn’t something to be taken lightly.

“So, Franklin, still keeping that stupid nickname I see,” Foggy’s aunt Carol muttered and Foggy’s mom shot him a harsh look as he opened his mouth to respond because it wasn’t Foggy’s fault that his aunt had been born a normal and was pretty much the Nelson clan’s version of Petunia Dursley.

Foggy was pretty sure that his mom couldn’t read his mind but she could read his face and the look she was sending his way said that he’d better not start anything at her table.

Honestly it wasn’t like Foggy was starting anything he was just finishing it for Carol.

“I think it fits him, his voice is sort of like a foghorn, it makes you notice it, but it’s not aggressive, like you’re hearing something from far away that’s calling you home… like a foghorn,” Matt responded and the entire table went silent.

At the head of the table Foggy’s grandmother shifted in her seat, green eyes fixed on Matt’s face, or at least the side of his face that she could see.

“You say that like you’ve heard him sing,” she pointed out and Matt shrugged as he turned into Foggy.

“I’ve heard him speak, it’s not my fault if other people can’t hear what I can,” he retorted and Foggy barely resisted the urge to sigh because he’d already told Matt that he didn’t need him to fight his battles but it didn’t look like that lecture had stuck at all.

Instead of being insulted Foggy’s grandmother leaned forward, her eyes intent. Foggy loved his Gran but she was terrifying when she wanted to be and right now it was starting to look like she wanted to be.

“And how exactly can you hear what you can? I was told that you weren’t a shifter,” she pointed out and Matt turned towards the sound of her voice for the first time, one brow rising in a way that had Foggy burying his face in his hands because he knew that face, that was Matt’s ‘I won’t only win but I’ll make you cry for your mother’ face. It was a pretty accurate description of Matt’s motives; Foggy had actually seen people cry after going toe to toe with Matt when he had that look on his face.

“I didn’t realize that I’d been invited to the Spanish Inquisition, I would’ve at least dressed appropriately but seeing as no one ever truly expects an Inquisition I guess I should’ve known better,” Matt mused. “To answer your question, no, I’m not what most would class as a shifter. I’m a lawyer and I’m blind which means I pay attention when people speak and if everyone else did that too then maybe _Foggy’s_ nickname would make more sense and I wouldn’t have to explain myself.”

Foggy held his breath, peering from between his fingers as his grandmother drew herself up in her seat and then…she laughed….cackled actually and Matt grinned at her, ducking his head and transforming from the spitfire, who had just gone toe to toe with the Siren matriarch of their family, into the orphan boy who’d probably never broken a single rule if he could avoid it.

“You picked yourself a good one, Foggy,” his gran remarked and as Foggy stared at Matt he couldn’t help but agree.

*O*

“I honestly think that if you’d been smaller your motto would’ve been ‘I’m tiny, fight me’,” Foggy muttered as he got Matt settled on the sofa.

Matt smirked, using the hand that Foggy was guiding him with to yank Foggy down and the sound he made was a manful grunt and not a shriek of terror, no matter what the expression on Matt’s face implied.

Glancing around to make sure that no one was seeing them Foggy batted at Matt’s hands when they started shifting him around until he was fully seated on Matt’s lap.

“Matthew Murdock, my family is in the next room,” Foggy hissed but Matt just beamed.

“I know, I want them to know just how much I want you. Everyone in there, even your aunt, who I’m only not admitting to hating because she’s related to you by blood…”

“Oh no, you can totally hate her, I do too,” Foggy offered up, mostly to distract Matt but the way that Matt’s fingers tightened on his hips said that he hadn’t really done a good job of it.

“…also you smell happy,” Matt continued like Foggy hadn’t spoken.

Foggy cocked a brow at that, “What do I smell like when I’m happy?” he inquired, curious of this new side of Matt.

Matt buried his face in Foggy’s chest, inhaling slowly. “Like the trees just after it’s rained, like the first blooms of spring…like sunshine and lightning,” Matt breathed and Foggy laughed , he couldn’t help it as he wrapped his arms around the ridiculous man that he’d chosen to fall for.

“You can’t smell sunshine,” Foggy pointed out lightly but Matt just grunted, not moving from his spot.

“I can,” he whispered and there was nothing but truth in his tone.

Foggy closed his eyes for a minute because Matt was offering up even more of himself and Foggy didn’t know what to do with that sort of trust.

“What does sunshine smell like?” Foggy asked instead.

“It smells like the source of everything, sort of like ozone with a hint of heat. It smells warm and powerful and dangerous,” Matt explained and Foggy glanced down at him as Matt pulled away from his hiding place, his glasses glinting in the low light. “The first time you laughed, all I could think was that I wanted to taste it, taste the sunshine on your skin,” Matt murmured, his tone low and gravely in a way that made Foggy shiver and there was no way that Matt hadn’t felt that.

“Do you…I mean you can if you want…taste it, I mean,” Foggy stuttered and Matt’s lips quirked up into a grin as he slipped his glasses off. Then his fingers were curling around Foggy’s face as he shifted closer and Foggy couldn’t help but close his eyes, plunging himself into darkness as Matt’s lips brushed against his once, then a second time like they were asking for permission, like Matt wasn’t sure that Foggy would want this.

The thought made Foggy growl as he tangled his fingers in Matt’s hair to hold him still and then Matt was licking into his mouth, small kittenish touches that had shivers racing up Foggy’s spine while one of Matt’s hands dropped back to his hip.

The hint of teeth on his lower lip had Foggy gasping against Matt’s mouth as Matt’s hips rolled upwards and then there was nothing pure or chaste about the kiss. There was only heat and the slickness of their tongues and God, Foggy could almost smell the ozone on his own skin because there was happiness and then there was this.

Pulling away on a gasp, Foggy groaned as Matt’s attention moved to his neck and they really, really needed to stop because his family was out there somewhere and they really shouldn’t be having their first make out session on his mom’s sofa but for the life of him Foggy didn’t know how to cope with Matt Murdock sucking a hickey into his skin.

“I think your grandmother just called you a hussy,” Matt whispered and Foggy snorted as he leaned forward enough to rest his forehead against Matt’s, unwilling to break the intimacy of the moment.

“When I’m drunk enough to forget, remind me to tell you about Gran’s seven marriages and the reason why all of her kids have her last name,” Foggy responded because if he was a hussy, he wasn’t the only one in their family.

Matt was silent for a long moment and the silly grin stretched across his face just made Foggy wasn’t to kiss him again. “I was right, you do taste like sunshine.”

Foggy opened his mouth to respond to that but before he could his Gran came bustling into the room.

“If you could separate yourself from Mr. Murdock, your mother wants your help,” she informed them and Foggy could feel the flush burning his skin because awkward didn’t even describe the way he felt sliding off of Matt’s lap in front of grandmother.

Foggy hesitated for a moment when it didn’t look like his Gran was going to follow him.

“Go on, I want to have a little chat with your fellow,” she ordered and Foggy sighed.

“You’re not going to scare him off,” he pointed out but the matching smiles that he got from both his Gran and Matt at that said that maybe he was worrying about the wrong thing.

*O*

Foggy wasn’t the least bit surprised when his mom told him that she hadn’t needed anyone’s help but he did accept the cup of hot cocoa because he knew better than to interrupt his Gran.

Glancing outside he let his gaze follow the blue Cadillac idling across the street.

He frowned for a second because he could have sworn he’d seen the car somewhere before.

*O*

Leaving Matt in bed had been one of the hardest things that Foggy had ever done but he had his meeting with the Council later that day and he needed to get out of the house.

He hadn’t been on a proper run in months but his feet remembered the paths easily and he just let himself breathe as he ran, his mind flickering back to the image of Matt curling around his pillow.

The thought almost made Foggy trip over his own feet but thankfully he managed to skid to a stop before he became intimately acquainted with the rocky ground.

Bracing his hands on his knees he inhaled then exhaled.

That was when he heard the footsteps and turned…then everything went black.

*O*

“You sure he’s the guy?”

The voice made Foggy’s head ache and he tried to open his eyes but it felt like his eyelids were weighted down by something.

“Smelled that fucker all over him didn’t I? Figures you’d get your ass kicked by a fucking queer.”

That carved through the haze surrounding Foggy’s mind and he forced his eyes open.

The room that he was in was dark and musty, the light streaming in through the boards that covered several of the missing windows.

There were two men standing in front of him but Foggy didn’t recognize either of them.

“And lookit queer number one is awake,” the taller of the two sneered, his head turning towards Foggy and the glint of amber in his eyes told Foggy all he needed to know about the man… _fucking shifters._

Foggy glowered at the man as he twisted his hands in the ropes binding his hands behind his back.

“Bet you’re wondering what we wanted with ya?” he inquired and Foggy had to fight down the urge to sneer because people who knocked other people out and threw around the word ‘queer’ like it was something vile wasn’t exactly anyone who he wanted to figure out.

“Your boyfriend decided to fuck with my little cousin when he was having a little fun and I can’t let that slide now can I?” the man muttered.

Foggy’s eyes flickered to the other man at that, taking in the frat shirt and the arrogant sneer on the kid’s lips.

_“Hazing thing but they’d found out that he was gay and they weren’t going to stop not even when he begged them to so I made them stop,”_

The words flickered through Foggy’s head but he kept his expression bland.

“Look, I don’t know either of you. I came down here to visit my family with my friend. A friend who also happens to be very blind which kind of means that you’re trying to imply that a blind man beat someone up.”

Both men glanced at each other at that because Foggy knew that shifter could tell he wasn’t lying…omission of the truth? Well, that was something else entirely but his heartbeat would say that he was telling the truth.

The shifter’s head snapped back around to him.

“I smelled him on you, I can still fucking smell him so don’t lie to me!” he snarled but Foggy could hear the uncertainty in his voice and he had to take a slow breath to keep himself from crooning his pleasure…he really didn’t think the patchy roof over his head could take so much as a hum.

All it needed was just one song, just one and they’d be…

The thought shattered the same time that the door flew off its hinges and Foggy was going to strangle Matt if that was what he’d been going out in. A fucking mask and it didn’t even cover all of his face.

The taller man didn’t hesitate, even as his cousin was backing away, he _shifted_ , human form flowing into that of a wolf and his body was moving before the change had finished, slamming full on into Matt and Foggy couldn’t describe the sound that left his throat as Matt went down under the onslaught of claws and teeth.

The world seemed to slow as the wolf’s teeth snapped at Matt’s throat and Foggy knew he was singing, he knew it because the ground was shaking beneath his feet and the other man was screaming but his eyes didn’t leave the fight in front of him not even as pieces of the roof rained down on their heads…then the world caught fire.

The chair that Foggy was in shattered beneath him and he scrambled to get out of the ropes as the flames engulfed Matt and the shifter.

The wolf went flying, its body smacking against the far wall with a dull sickening thud.

But Foggy barely noticed that, barely noticed anything as something moved in the flames. A darker figure silhouetted against the red.

It was instinct for a siren to sing when scared and the only thing keeping Foggy’s mouth shut now was the knowledge that it had been Matt in those flames, it had been Matt but the thing that stepped out of the fire wasn’t Matt.

Horns curled out of its skull, wreathed in flames and it had no eyes, just dark empty sockets and Foggy wasn’t looking at the tail or the fucking hooves because this wasn’t a manifestation, it couldn’t be a manifestation.

_“My grandmother, she used to say ‘be careful of the Murdock boys, they got the devil in them’.”_

Foggy’s heart stuttered in his chest as the thing…Matt because it had to be Matt took another step forward.

_“I try to not use it much. I don’t like…I don’t want to be the person it makes me into.”_

“Matty?” Foggy whispered and Matt made a soft sound, almost a whine and Foggy’s blood ran cold as he stared at Matt’s lips because they were sewn together, dark strands flowing through his skin and he couldn’t…

Pushing himself to his feet, Foggy stepped towards him.

The world had caught fire…just like in his dreams, exactly like his dreams.

Ignoring the bodies of the still wolf and the other man who was whimpering in the corner Foggy took another step forward and this close he could feel the heat and smell the brimstone.

He didn’t have the dreams when Matt was sleeping. He never saw Matt meet with a rep because Foggy wasn’t sure if there was a rep for this.

His fingers trembled as he raised his hand to Matt’s face, a sound hitching in his throat as his fingers brushed the strings on Matt’s lips.

Closing his eyes against the tears building in them Foggy crooned, low and soft, in a way he hadn’t managed in years because Matt couldn’t speak in this form, couldn’t use his own voice and the siren in Foggy couldn’t understand.

The sound built slowly, rising and ebbing like waves because the song had never been about destruction, it was Matt’s pain woven into a melody that only Foggy could understand, that only Foggy could share because Matt _couldn’t_ and he sang until Matt stopped burning, until the rough skin beneath his fingers melted into something familiar.

He sang as Matt curled his arms around him whispering how sorry he was into his hair because Foggy had just been a conduit but Foggy couldn’t blame him, not for a second because his world only burned when he slept but Matt…Matt’s world had always been on fire.

The sound of sirens pierced the air around them but Foggy didn’t move away from Matt even as people swarmed into the tiny room.

“You didn’t run, you were scared but you didn’t run,” Matt whispered, his voice full of awe and Foggy grinned against his skin.

“I promised I’d sing for you, Murdock, and I don’t break my promises,” he croaked and Matt’s fingers tightened in his shirt as they were ushered outside by the Cleaners, the police of their society.

*O*

Foggy clenched his fingers around Matt’s as he read the letter that the Council had left for them after the investigation.

“Upon further review we have decided that Franklin Nelson is not a threat to himself or others and would advise that he practice more self-control in the future but otherwise we are pleased with his progress,” Foggy read and Matt beamed at him.

“I told you it’d work out,” he murmured but Foggy just swatted at him because Matt hadn’t know anything would work out. They’d talked about it and while Matt had guessed, he hadn’t been certain, no matter what he said so Foggy knew he’d been just as worried.

“Okay, Mr. Know-It-All, do you know what’s going to happen now?” Foggy demanded as he turned to face Matt on the sofa, suddenly glad that the rest of his family had decided to give them some space.

Matt’s lips quirked into a smirk, “Are you going to kiss me?” he inquired.

“Nope, something else,” Foggy responded, shifting so that he was mostly on Matt’s lap.

The smile that Matt shot his way then was soft and warm in a way that made Foggy want to wrap him up and hide him from the world.

“Are you going to sing for me?” Matt whispered and Foggy dipped down to brush their lips together in a chaste kiss.

They weren’t perfect; there were so many questions to be answered. Like what Matt really was and why the connection between them had formed before they’d even met. But they had two days of holidays left and Matt had been smiling more and more with each passing day and Foggy could sing, could hum and croon without being afraid of his own voice.

They weren’t perfect by a long shot but Matt’s smile grew more solid as Foggy whispered the words of the song that he’d heard Matt humming sometimes and as he grew more confident the song rose until he could feel it…could feel Matt curling in his chest like a ball of fire, barely flickering, just there as Foggy let his voice rise.

And when Matt’s voice joined his on the ‘hallelujah’ it wasn’t perfect but it felt a lot like love.

**Author's Note:**

> To clear things up, Matt's manifestation started after his accident, without the trauma he wouldn't have manifested just like his dad. Tiny baby Foggy was basically acting as a conduit for the feelings that Matt's other side came with as it couldn't express them fully itself (see sewn up mouth, don't fear it doesn't hurt him, it's basically a wierdass birthmark). Matt's final manifestation occurred during his time at college, which is when he went full on horn-boy. Because Matt's other side is mostly nocturnal that was when Foggy was connecting with it when his own defenses were down. The sewn up mouth is unique to Matt, I'm picturing others of his kind with other versions of bindings, maybe sewn eyes, no hands sort of thing, it all depends on their partners' manifestation.


End file.
